Twas the Night of Sasori
by Satiah
Summary: Tobi awaits Christmas morning with an unparalleled, child-like enthusiasm. Deidara accepts it as just another day. But there's a surprise beneath the tree, left for the young artist by another one long since dead.


"'Twas the Night Before Christmas" © Clement Clarke Moore  
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

...

_'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house  
_A figure appeared amidst the night, disturbing the silent shadows as he moved about the darkened room.

_Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  
_Knowing he was the only one awake, he had no problem examining the living room and its festive holiday décor. After a long pause, with him deeply lost in reverie, he eventually decided that the room was dreadfully tacky.

_The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,  
_He glowed faintly as he stood there, pale skin illuminated by an ethereal light. He seemed almost to float as he made his way toward the towering Christmas tree, but he was solid enough when he moved the ornament-laden boughs aside.

_In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.  
_Peering through a thick screen of pine needles, he searched carefully for the gift placed there not too long ago.  
_  
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,  
_Listening once more to make sure that, indeed, he was the only one around, he cautiously reached beneath the tree and removed a hideously wrapped package of cheap paper and neon-bright ribbon.

_While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.  
_He hid the present behind the sofa, careful that it would not be seen by those who frequented the household.  
_  
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,  
_He replaced the package with another of equal dimension and wrapping, smiling mischievously to himself.

_Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap._  
A soft chuckle escaped his ghostly-pale lips as he vanished once again into the silent darkness that was Christmas Eve.

...

Deidara awoke with a yawn, sleepily stretching his arms as he pulled himself out of the dense fog of sleep. Messy blond hair tumbled over his left eye, threatening to take over his right as well. He blinked lazily, absently brushing the longest strands back behind an ear to keep them from tickling his face. A normal, quiet morning greeted the former Iwanin as he hoisted himself out of bed and into the shower. He readied for the day relatively quickly, as he was eager for breakfast, and once he was clean, dressed, and dry, he happily descended the stairs to the kitchen for a nice warm cup of coffee.

"GOOD MORNING, SENPAI!" The greeting was hollered in his ear. "IT'S CHRISTMAS MOR~NING!"

Deidara could have killed the cheerful orange-masked idiot right then and there, had it not been _Christmas Day_. As it were, however, he just settled for elbowing his obnoxious partner in the gut.

Tobi doubled over with an "oof", but Deidara know as much as anyone else that Tobi hadn't actually stayed there long enough to get hit. The kid was infuriatingly talented at avoiding physical injury, especially when it concerned Deidara. Ever since Tobi had learned that "you-can't-hit-me" trick of his, he had been impossible to deal with. Deidara was left with a serious lack of satisfactory retaliatory measures, seeing how he could no longer resort to blasting the orange fruitcake into low orbit.

With a soft sigh, Deidara entered the living room, sat down on the couch and sipped at his drink. _Still too hot_, he thought. While he allowed himself to sink into the cushions, his blue eye instinctively drew itself to a photograph on the mantle across the room. It was the only picture Deidara owned, as art was…well…you already know. There wasn't much point in someone like him keeping pictures.

Deidara quietly gazed at the glossy photo, noting, as always, that Sasori-danna couldn't even bother to look happy for one stinking picture. Sasori's face was bleak and stoic, but that was alright. The shot seemed to have accurately captured that part of him, at least.

Deidara would have liked to have said something to the photo, as he usually did on such occasions, but he was abruptly interrupted from that particular task by the appearance of a bright orange blob in his face.

"Senpai…can we open the presents now?" Tobi asked eagerly.

With another sigh (as that seemed to express everything Deidara felt while dealing with Tobi) Deidara slowly removed himself from the comfort of the couch to help separate the presents. Tobi enthusiastically joined, all the while humming some off-key version of "Jingle Bells" that only he knew.

Like a little kid, Tobi's energy was easily transferred into tearing open as many presents as humanly possible at one time. He raced himself, trying to shred ribbons and bows and paper as fast as he could. Occasional "yays!" and various other squeals of delight issued from his side of the room as he blasted through his pile of gifts. In contrast, Deidara blankly stared at Tobi for a while before eventually turning to his own pile, distractedly unwrapping each gift in its own time, making almost no note of what he was actually doing. However, his hand hesitated, seemingly by itself, above his last gift. It was an unlabeled present, from whom, he didn't know. He had already received gifts from the rest of Akatsuki…

Tobi grinned from behind his mask. This was it. Senpai would open that box to find the most special gift of all. And it would be from none other than him! Then, Senpai would finally see that Tobi was a good boy, a good partner, and not someone useless or annoying or to be used as target practice. Because Tobi knew art, too, and a new paint-set would be just what Deidara-senpai had always wanted, Tobi just knew it…

Curious, Deidara untied the orange ribbon and gently peeled off the yellow paper. He opened the box to find a smaller box hidden inside. Intrigued, Deidara removed the smaller box. He only vaguely registered the lack of Tobi-squeals and the addition of a perplexed stare from the other ninja.

Opening this smaller box, Deidara revealed a small, shimmering crystal scorpion, exquisitely cut to catch the light, and therefore made to glitter unceasingly. And when the light actually hit it just right, it seemed to explode in an instantaneous flash of brilliance, sending glittering refractions throughout the room.

Two eyes stared in disbelief at the curious object: Deidara's eye wide with surprise, and Tobi's with utter confusion. _That_ wasn't the gift he had prepared for senpai…

Deidara held the scorpion carefully, as if it were a delicate flower, while he examined the etchings on the underbelly. An eyebrow lifted in surprise. He gently set the curious thing on the tabletop and picked up his coffee mug, reclined on his chair, and let his mind wander in thought. Sasori had been dead for too many years...who had put such a strange little memento beneath the tree?

Leaning forward until he could lean no more, Tobi stared at the crystal critter. That _definitely_ was not the gift he had put into his box. But it really _was_ his box. Nobody else would wrap a Christmas present in yellow and orange, which was exactly why Tobi had chosen to do so.

Seeing his senpai was still lost in his own thoughts, Tobi snatched the scorpion for further inspection. His eye widened abruptly, but no one could tell because it was hidden by the cut of his mask.

Etched on the underbelly was a simple enough message:

_Keep trying, brat, and one day you might become an artist after all._

_..._

Three weeks later found Tobi and Deidara putting away the decorations, the latter with a new trinket perched upon the mantle, standing guard beside the picture of a bored-looking person Tobi had never cared to meet. They were putting away the Christmas tree, trying not to stab themselves as they crammed the thing back into its box. Not quite avoiding various other injuries, such as scrapes, scratches, bruises, and stubbed toes, they eventually succeeded, only to find a mess of fake pine needles and ornament hangers scattered about the floor. After cleaning the area, something brightly colored caught Deidara's eye from behind the couch.

"What's this?" He asked, holding up a yellow box with a tacky orange ribbon.

Tobi quickly took the present from Deidara's hand and glowered. "Easter egg, Senpai! You could have been a bit more considerate and at least waited another few months before finding it..."


End file.
